Flag referendum resurrects debate

Posted: Sunday, February 29, 2004

By Mike D'Avriamike.davria@onlineathens.com

Andy Fuqua, right, talks Friday with Richard Allen, owner of the Civil War Store in Athens, about the store's selection of flags. Fuqua says he plans to vote in Tuesday's election for the state flag that flew from 2001-03.

The state of Georgia leads the nation in the number and variety of different state flags used over the years. The state also set a record by having three different state flags in a period of only 27 months.

After Tuesday's referendum, Georgia will have a state flag selected by the people.

This upsets many Southern heritage groups, according to William Lathem, the spokesman for the Southern Heritage Political Action Committee - a non-partisan Southern heritage preservation group. Lathem contends the state isn't getting a fair vote because the flag that flew from 1956 until 2001 isn't on the ballot.

Instead, voters will determine at a non-binding referendum whether they prefer the 2001 design developed by former Gov. Roy Barnes and quickly approved by the Georgia General Assembly or a 2003 flag backed by Gov. Sonny Perdue and passed by the legislature last winter.

The controversial '56 flag that the Barnes design replaced featured the St. Andrew's Cross, commonly known as the Confederate battle flag, which has long been considered a racist symbol for many. For others it has represented a symbol of strong Southern heritage and history.

2003 Georgia flag

Voters will choose either the 2001 flag or the current flag. The 2001 flag featured the state seal on a blue background with small versions of historic flags - including the 1956 flag and a U.S. flag - shown in a ribbon near the bottom.

The current flag, approved last year, features the state coat of arms on a blue field on top left-hand corner of the flag and three horizontal stripes. The top and bottom stripe are red, with a middle white stripe, reminiscent of the Confederate ''Stars and Bars'' flag.

Many attribute Barnes' loss in the 2002 election to the Republican Perdue at least partly a result of chagrin over the sudden and quiet flag change - and Perdue's campaign to allow a vote on the flag.

Some groups think the two flags are not worthy of being the official state flag.

''Both flags were a creation of political correctness,'' Lathem said, claiming neither express the will of the majority of Georgians. ''We do not support either flag, and we encourage all Georgians not to vote for either flag.''

2001 Georgia flag

Dan Coleman, the Georgia Division spokesman for the Sons of Confederate Veterans - a group which promotes the preservation and history of Confederate veterans - said the '56 flag should not be considered a flag that represents racism, but should honor the Southern soldiers in the Civil War.

''It's a soldier's flag, and we want to honor the Confederate soldiers. The other two flags are just governmental sellout flags,'' Coleman said.

Ed Jackson, a spokesman for the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, wrote a booklet, ''Flags that Have Flown Over Georgia'' for the Secretary of State's office and said the adoption of the '56 flag went through the General Assembly quickly and the motivation behind it is not officially known.

He said there has been wide speculation about the motivation for the change, ranging from recognition of Georgia's Confederate heritage to angry reaction of the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision to allow integration in public schools. He did say the bill that changed the flag sailed through the 1956 session of the General Assembly.

''Interestingly, there were no public hearings held, and voters were not given a referendum to vote on whether they approved the change,'' he said.

Jackson said some Georgia residents are upset over the change in 2001 when Barnes was successful in getting the General Assembly to approve the new state flag without any public hearings or a statewide referendum.

The current flag is very similar to the state flag in Georgia before 1956, which is also similar to the original ''Stars and Bars'' of the Confederacy.

Walter C. Butler, president of the State Conference for the NAACP, said the organization favors the 2001 Barnes flag because the current flag is a modified version of the original Confederate flag. The NAACP prefers a flag with the Confederate symbols reserved for a small portion of the flag, like on the 2001 version, Butler said.

He said the NAACP has always been against the '56 flag, and fought to have it changed for a number of years.

''We've always said that it was racist, and it didn't represent the people of Georgia,'' Butler said. ''A state flag should be representative of the culture and heritage of everybody in the state, and it should not be divisive. ... (The '56 flag) is not something collective for the state because it doesn't preserve the heritage of the black folk in Georgia.''

Coleman said the '56 flag represents a Southern heritage, not racism.

''It's tragic that its meaning has been changed, and it has been demonized by the people who make their living through divisiveness,'' Coleman said.

Jackson said some people are afraid that if the Confederate symbol is taken off the Georgia state flag, other Confederate monuments - like the carving into Stone Mountain, which features three prominent Confederate leaders of the Civil War - might disappear next.

Jackson noted that when the state flag was changed in 2001, the legislature passed a number of safeguards to protect Confederate monuments already standing and specifically the carving at Stone Mountain.

Jackson also pointed out that some people are upset with Perdue because they felt he promised that the '56 flag would in fact be on a ballot.

''We are not demanding a return to the '56 flag, we just want a fair vote with the flag on the ballot,'' Lathem said.

Coleman agreed, and said the '56 flag should be on the ballot. ''The current flag is by a governor who betrayed the heritage people who put him there. What we got was not what he promised at all,'' he said. ''He promised me personally that the '56 flag would be one of the choices up for a vote; as I was giving him a campaign contribution.''

Flag referendum

A non-binding referendum Tuesday on the design of the Georgia state flag will allow voters throughout the state to voice their preference for the current design, adopted last year at the urging of Gov. Sonny Perdue, or a 2001 design developed by former governor Roy Barnes. The ballot will feature pictures of each design and the question:

''VOTE FOR ONLY ONE CHOICE:

''Should the State of Georgia keep the 2003 Flag adopted at the 2003 Session of the General Assembly or return to the 2001 Flag adopted at the 2001 Session of the General Assembly?''

Voters can vote on the flag issue alone or may also select a Republican or Democratic ballot to name their choice of a nominee for president. The GOP ballot will feature President Bush. Nine candidates are listed on the Democratic ballot: John Kerry, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton, and five candidates who are no longer actively campaigning: Carol Moseley Braun, Wesley Clark, Howard Dean, Dick Gephardt and Joe Lieberman.